Privacy, Data Protection and Security

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure and we operate secure data networks protected by industry standard security systems. In order to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect on line.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting such sites and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. Using these sites is entirely at your own risk and we are not responsible for any loss or damage your may suffer as a result of viewing or using these sites. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Registration

To register with our Seemydata you need to be named on the tenancy or lease of your property. You must ensure that the information you provide when registering is correct.
Any information you send us on our online forms is not secure, unless we explicitly express that it is on the page itself.

When sensitive personal information (such as tenancy reference) is supplied, we will endeavour to ensure that it is protected through the use of encryption, such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. This is designed to ensure that your information (tenancy reference or statements details for example) cannot be read as it travels over the internet.

Our advice is that you do not type personal or sensitive information in to web sites that do not begin with https

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping.

We may use the information to improve our products and services.

We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.

From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.

Telephone call recording

We may monitor and record your telephone calls to us. We do this to check we are meeting the standards of customer service agreed with residents and for training purposes to develop our staff. The recordings can also be used as evidence in disputes or investigations of our customers or staff.

Data Protection Act 1998

We comply with the data protection principles set out in the Data Protection Act 1998. The personal information you provide to us will be processed fairly and lawfully. We will comply with the relevant English Data Protection laws, which includes having a legal duty to protect any information we collect from you. We use appropriate technologies to safeguard data, and keep strict security standards to prevent any unauthorised access to it. Normally, any personal details provided to us will not be disclosed to third parties outside the company without the user's consent. However, in some circumstances, we may share information to other agencies or organisations such as contractors working on our behalf, the police or local authorities and any other organisation with whom we work where the law allows.

To ensure we are talking to the correct person when you call we will ask you to confirm your date of birth and some times your password.

Damage to your device

We make every effort to ensure that our systems and website are free from viruses, defects and harmful files. However, all of the material accessed through the use of our website is entirely at your own risk. Merlin is not liable for any loss or damage to your software or computer systems or loss of data as a result of using, or the inability to use, this website.

Image Capture

Images may be captured during events organised and hosted by Merlin using film photography, digital photography, video or other medium and may be used on this website, brochures, other publicity material (such as internal and external newsletters), and may be provided to the media for publication in local or national newspapers.
Merlin acknowledges its responsibilities in capturing images by photography or other means under the provisions of the following legislation.

The Protection of Children Act 1978: We recognises that it is a criminal offence to take, permit to be taken, distribute, have in one’s possession or publish indecent photographs (including films and other imagery) of children.

The Human Rights Act 1998: We recognise an individual’s rights to privacy as protected by this Act.

The Data Protection Act 1998: We undertake to inform all those whose images may be recorded (or their parents/guardians if under 18 years of age) of the purposes for which the images may be used by us. Merlin informs all persons taking part in Merlin activities that they may be photographed, filmed, videoed or otherwise captured in image form.

Where possible and practical to do so Merlin seeks written consent to image capture. Where this is not possible for practical reasons, unless express objections are received, individuals attending a Merlin event are deemed to have given their consent by attending or remaining at the event. Any queries or complaints should be raised with the event host in the first instance.

Phishing

Phishing is the name given to attempts to steal personal details and financial account details from a website user. “Phishers” use fake or “spoof” emails to lead users to counterfeit websites where the user is tricked into entering their personal details, such as credit card numbers, user names and passwords. We will never send emails asking you for such details.

If you do receive such an email or are asked for similar details by anyone claiming to work for Merlin please forward the email or report the incident by email to enquiries@merlinhs.co.uk, or send in writing to our address.

Viruses, hacking and other offences

You must not misuse our site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to our site, the server on which our site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to our site. You must not attack our site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of service attack.

By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use our site will cease immediately.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of our site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

How we use cookies

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer's hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website in order to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website however.

What we use cookies for

_utmz This cookie stores where a visitor (you) came from. E.g. search engine, search keyword, link, etc.
_utma This cookie stores each user's amount of visits, and the time of the first visit, the previous visit, and the current visit.
_utmc, _utmb These are used to check approximately how long a user (you) stay on our site: when a visit starts, and approximately ends.
session Session cookies allow users to be recognized within a website so any page changes or item or data selection you do is remembered from page to page.
session Session cookies allow users to be recognized within a website so any page changes or item or data selection you do is remembered from page to page.
twll, k These cookies are created by Twitter, they let the website know if you've logged in to your Twitter account. In this case they are present because the 'Tweet' button is being used on the website.
psc, uvc, uid, di, uit, sshs, ssc, dt AddThis (social sharing tool) sets cookies to help serve social media buttons, they never store personal information unless provided and this is non-personally identifiable information.
loc AddThis Geolocation cookie, so our publishers know approximately where people sharing information are located

How to manage cookies

Our cookies do not store financial information, or information which is capable of directly identifying you (such as your name or address). Cookies simply allow our website to retrieve this information in order to personalise and improve your experience of our website.

However, if you wish to restrict, block or delete cookies provided by this website – or any other website - you can use your browser to do this. Each browser is different so check the ‘Help’ menu of your particular browser to learn how to change your cookie preferences, or use the following on your particular browser.

Please bear in mind that if you do this, certain personalised features of this website and others cannot be provided to you.

Third Party Cookies

To help improve your experience of our site we use content from other sites to help users and improve usability for example Google Maps for store locators or YouTube for Video. We also use social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to allow businesses to communicate with their clients along with analytics to help improve user experience. We do not control these sites and we suggest you read their cookie policy to see which ones they use and how to manage them.

Social Tools This website takes advantage of social networks such as twitter; you may receive cookies from these websites. We are not in control of these third-party cookies, if you'd like to learn more about them - visit their websites.